Round Two

 Christmas Eve we went to the Hunsley's house for Christmas with Drew's family. We had a super yummy steak dinner. 

Afterwards we spent some time contemplating what it would be like to be someone in the story of Jesus' birth. It was pretty easy for me, since I'm great with child I've been thinking about  Mary a lot this season. :) I'm so glad that God knows everything about our Peyton and we don't have to worry about his life. Mary didn't have as long with her firstborn as she did with her other child. She had to watch him die a horrible death. Even still, she treasured the times she had with them and held them close to her heart. She had her hands open to what God had in store for Jesus, even though it was difficult. That is my hope for my baby. That my hands remain open so I do not get in the way of any great plan God has in store for Peyton Andrew. I don't need to worry about the diabetes or possible complications. God's not surprised by anything that happens to my sweet baby and I can rest easy at night knowing that. 

Wow, that was a tangent. After that we played a game that my soon-to-be sister-in-law plays with her family. It apparently is a German tradition. Someone hides a pickle somewhere in the Christmas tree, and all the kids have to try to find it. The winner gets a prize. Drew's mom, Phyllis, hid a tiny ornament and it took us forever to find it. Once we were able to touch the tree, Phyllis may or may not have shown me the general direction of the hiding spot. I may or may not have found it and claims to be the winner. Don't worry, we felt guilty a couple hours later and told the boys. I did get an I Tunes gift card out of the deal!

 After that presents were opened, new fluffy socks were worn, Nerf gun wars took place, and we ended the night with dessert and catch phrase.

 Round Two = Success

Round One

 My oh my what a couple weeks it has been! Drew and I have been celebrating Christmas like it's going out of style. We usually do, since we celebrate with so many different parts of our family. This year we were able to spread it out a little which was wonderful!! I love not having to rush from place to place all in one day!!

First Christmas was my dad and Dreama's house the Friday before Christmas. We had a Mexican feast and snickerdoodles. Drew and Dad took turns flying the helicopter and keeping it away from the bat Audrey was swinging at it!

 Peyton got his own stocking, which gave me many warm fuzzies inside! Drew and I were waiting til next year to get him one. Mainly because we have to decide whether we will get new ones as well. I got us stockings when we got married, but I put "Drew" and "Kari" on them. Now I am second guessing that decision. Shouldn't we be "Daddy" and "Mommy"?? What do you do at your house??

Round One: Success

Love.

THANK YOU MARY FOR TAKING SUCH AMAZING PICTURES!! SURE DO APPRECIATE YOU!

end of construction

The beginning

Water authority came. Dug up our road. Plumber came. Put a new pipe it. Covered it up. Left a big mess. Gave us water. Hurray!

'Completed'

Mason's thoughts. "That's the biggest dirt I ever did saw!" - He's a cutie

On another note. Drew has been quite productive fixing random problems we never fixed last winter from our first pipe problem. Our kitchen is finally completed. Hurray again!

Date 52

 All week long Drew and I kept putting off all the relaxing and procrastinating because of our final week of classes. So Saturday was our first free day. We were way more productive that Drew would have preferred, but we accomplished a lot, rested a lot, a spent the whole day together. I'd say that was a success.

We helped a friend with her husbands Christmas gift. Well, Drew helped Echo while I talked to Josh and played with Nycole. I am a fan of that 1 year old cutie! We then cleaned out our cars, did some house work. Watched a movie while eating lunch. Five loads of laundry were completed along with almost all of our Christmas presents wrapped. (Can I just say I'm super grateful my hubby can make pretty bows. It takes him way less time than it takes me... although I know that he wishes he was horrible at it!) We ate dinner and ended the night with another movie. Captain America... better than I anticipated it being.

This concludes our way-longer-than-a-year 52 weeks dating challenge. It was lovely.

every week checks for the diabetes

I went to the doctor on Thursday. The week before I was told I needed to go on Metformin. That is a medicine for my diabetes because the low-carb diet alone is not doing the trick. This medicine isn't insulin, it is just something to help my insulin do its job better. So Thursday I went and had to take a NST (Non-Stress Test) to make sure that the medicine wasn't affect Peyton negatively. They just monitor his heartbeat, make sure he gets excited a couple times/moves around and then your done. Mine took about an hour (Some only take 10 minutes) because as we already know, Peyton doesn't cooperate for tests. After we woke him up with ice water he did much better and all looks well. :)

Then I saw Dr. M and he looked at my sugar log. They are still a little high for his liking. While he said he wouldn't be concerned at all if it was just me, the fact I'm pregnant makes him want my numbers lower. So I am not on the meds twice a day. I'll go back this coming Thursday for them to do another NST and check my sugar logs. Thankfully, they look way better so far so hopefully that will get me back on track for the rest of the pregnancy.

Dr. M did mention that at the rate seems to be growing, along with the diabetes, there is a chance of induction a week or two early but we all know that could change. All I'm hoping for is a healthy baby boy, even if he is a chunky monkey!

Side-notes:
I am getting super anxious to meet Peyton. I'm pretty giddy over it actually! We sure do love him to death already!


I'm craving so much more now that I literally can't have so many things that I love. Thankfully I have great friends that will provide me sweets once Peyton is out of my belly and in my arms. Until then, I'll admit, I get a tad emotional over not having snacks  or sweets when my sugar is high.

approximately 40 books later...

These are some, but not all of the books that Drew and I used for this semester. We are both grateful it is over!!

never a dull moment

I never updated about our crazy plumbing incident after the super high bill scare and the oh wait, God knows what he is doin' reminder.

We looked around with a couple different plumbers for prices and found someone that would do it for just a few hundred dollars more than what was in our savings... HUGE blessing! Obviously, that savings was for when I was home with Peyton not working, but we will see God answer that prayer later... Cause My God can. I'm not worried. :)

Basically, our main sewer line had a belly in it, so stuff was getting stuck and couldn't get out. So they have to replace the whole pipe in our front yard. So we waited on miss utility to mark up our front yard. Then it rained Tuesday and Wednesday. On Friday, our plumber came to replace the pipe. They dug up our yard (slightly overwhelming to see when I came home from work) and then realized there was a bigger problem. Apparently the pipe in the road that connects to ours in the yard are at the wrong heights. Whoever built our house did it WRONG and we have no idea how the sewer water hasn't been coming into our house. The pipe leaving our house apparently has to go uphill to fit in the one in the road... which is not correct.

ANYWAY, our plumber was saying it could be a good 10 grand to fix it due to the fact the road in front of our house has to be dug up. He called water authority and they came out and looked at it. They said they could have someone out here on Monday to fix the road's side of things... and then left. Drew looked at our plumber and said, "Does that mean free??" He said "I think so, you would be getting out your check book before they left if it wasn't."

Let's stress something for a minute. The plumber said he works with the water authority a lot, and they don't just do big things like that for free... That's God. No other reason for it. So hopefully our road will be dug up on Monday, and then Tuesday our pipe can be put in. It might be an extra hundred dollars or so just because of the extra time... but the 10 grand number... looks like that disappeared. My God loves me, that's all I'm saying. Although if we did have to pay that, I know my God still loves me, apparently He would have thought I just needed to learn some important lesson that I'm glad I don't have to learn! :)

All that to say, until then, my yard is dug up, and there is no water. So we packed up and moved in with my mom until probably Tuesday. Inconvenient. Yes. Worth it compared to alternatives. Absolutely.

Thanks mom for letting us and our puppy invade!


PS: I, along with most of you are probably wondering, "shesh, they always have water problems, and around the holidays too!" Well I am hesitantly reporting to you that I think we have covered most of the big water damage scenarios, so hopefully it will be the end. Or we might just sell before we see another!! ;)

Babymoon [51]

 Drew and I have heard by multiple couples that getting away for a couple days is super important before you have your baby. You know, since your life changes slightly when you become a family of three. ;) Our 3 year anniversary is also in a month, so we decided to take Saturday and Sunday and go out of town. Oh my goodness was it needed!! No thinking about school, or worries. Just two friends hanging out.

Drew wouldn't tell me where he was taking me, but we ended up in Greensboro. Thanks to Expedia we ended up at Grandover Resort. Apparently Michael Jordan has hosted his golf tournaments there. It was a beautiful golf course and spa. It was delightful. :)

 Once we got settled in, we went out to a mall to walk around, do a little Christmas shopping, grab a Cinnabon (for Drew) and then ended up at Chili's of course! We went back to the hotel where we swam, well stuck our feet in the water, spent some time praying/reading the bible searching for verses we want out Peyton to grow up knowing. I was introduced to Stratego, which is a game that Drew has been begging and pleading asking me to play with him for about a year. We watched the end of the Tech game although I fell asleep pretty quick.

The next morning we slept in, and then headed to Fuddruckers (where else? Drew picks our vacation routes based on where there is a Chili's and Fudd's). It was quite delicious. We went to the Tanger Outlets  for the afternoon, and then headed home. Then we had dinner with Drew's brother Bryan and our soon to be sister in law. I'd say it was a wonderful, and MUCH needed getaway. Now to finish these last two weeks of school and then enjoy the holidays!!

Family Traditions [50]

 I am sure most would agree that family traditions are a necessity. Well I LOVE decorating our house for Christmas with my husband. A little Christmas music, cookies baking in the over (don't worry I paced myself while eating, and my sugar stayed under control), and white twinkling lights to guide our way. I think my favorite part of decorating is sitting on the couch afterwards in the dark room, only lit by Christmas lights, snuggling with my man eating cookies! I'd say that was a good way to spend last Tuesday. Right before that we had our baby class so Peyton was anticipated and massages were given. Ahhh...

32 weeks

What's important

 I'm getting pretty bad at taking pictures... I never seem to think about it while I'm in the middle of a gathering, but always remember afterwards.So while Thanksgiving festivities did not get captured, I did take a few pictures of my two favorites... and really, that's all that matters, right? I'm sure when my own little one comes I will be WAY better with getting my camera out... probably to the annoyance of everyone else!

 This little girl went from 'no! no pitchures!' and hiding from the three cameras trying to capture her unique outfit, to modeling for us in no time... of course we were busting out laughing that at one point she told us to  "shhhh... gotta be quiet, Owo's sleepin'" Oh how I love that girl!